1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to flying toys, and more particularly wind driven flying toys having multiple guidelines and capable of reversing direction of flight by rotation of handles attached to the guide lines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous toys and flying apparatuses have been proposed and developed for fun and entertainment, educational purposes, and competition. Flying toys attached to strings such as kites have been used and enjoyed for centuries. More recently a number of aerodynamic toys to be thrown in the air for use in throwing games have become very popular. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,678 shows a flying saucer; U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,295 shows a tethered disc enabling retrieval if the disc does not make it back to the operator in the course of its flight; U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,946 shows a flying disc construction having an annular roller bearing at its center; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,875 showing a tethered flying disc with a two-piece bearing for control of the disc on a support line.
A number of kite string toys and flying devices have been described in the previous literature. Representative examples of issued patents are U.S. Pat. No. 1,172,198, U.S. Pat. No. 2,041,233, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,424. All of these devices required manual reset before the device could climb the kite string again before the dive down action. U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,853 provided a modification of this type of device by having means to adjust elevator tabs at the rear wing tips of the device and included a parachute launching mechanism.
Another genre of prior art flying toy using guide lines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 518,931 where a toy is shown in which the inclination of the guide lines can be reversed while U.S. Pat. No. 2,388,513 shows the use of a line connected to a toy air plane on a line to effect the release of toy bombs. U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,855 disclosed a toy air plane carried by a support line connected to a fixed reel, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,605 shows a toy operable over an inclined guide line extending between two fixed supports and runs over fixed support eye to a freely held reel with handle extensions.
The term "prior art" as used herein or in any statement made by or on behalf of applicant means only that any document or thing referred to as prior art bears, directly or inferentially, a date which is earlier than the effective date of this application.